


Mine

by InconsistentUpdates



Category: Paladins: Champions Of The Realm (Video Game)
Genre: I blame discord for this one, Yandere AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-08
Updated: 2018-03-08
Packaged: 2019-03-28 10:54:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13902540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InconsistentUpdates/pseuds/InconsistentUpdates
Summary: While escaping a pack of wolves you stumble across a cabin in the woods.Yandere! Inara AU





	Mine

The bloody cut in your side burned with every step you took. Feebly, you pressed your hand to it in an attempt to staunch the blood flow, but it was in vain. There was no way you’d survive, not when you were miles away from your village or any kind of civilization. You’d bleed out in the middle of the forest and eaten by the wolves before you'd even get close.

But even with the odds against you, you couldn’t stop running, practically dragging your haggard body in an attempt to put as much distance between you and the wolf pack chasing you as you could. If you would die here, you wouldn’t let yourself feed the wolves terrorizing your village.

A twisted root seemed to appear from thin air, and your foot became lodged between it and the ground. With a cry, you fell, and suddenly the strength you had while standing vanished in an instant. Your vision blurred and your wound pulsed in protest.

In the seconds before you lost consciousness, you could’ve sworn you saw a woman wielding a staff running towards you, a look of pure fear painting her features.

 

You woke with a gasp, and surprisingly, in no pain. Just an unpleasant soreness that seemed to seep into your bones. Wherever you had ended up, it was warm, comfortable, and hopefully safe. As you rubbed the sleep from your eyes, the door’s handle jiggled, and swung open, revealing a Stagalla woman with beautiful brown hair and warm inviting eyes. In her arms was a tray, loaded with an assortment of breakfast foods, the smell of which made your mouth water and your stomach rumble.

“Thank the gods you’ve awoken. I’ve been worried sick.”

She sets the tray in front of you, gesturing for you to eat. While you'd love to just snatch everything up, you hesitate for just a moment, making her chuckle. 

"Please, eat. It's not everyday when I get to cook for others, you know." She says kindly.

Greedily, you grab the closest thing, a plate of fried eggs, and begin to feast. The entire meal is wonderfully cooked, and by the time you're finished, you find yourself feeling better than when you first awoke.

“My name is Inara,” she says with a smile. “This is my cabin. I found you wounded during my walk, and I couldn’t bear to see you suffering. You should stay for a while to heal.”

She speaks with the concern of a mother, and it makes you smile.

“Of course. Thank you for your hospitality, Inara. I owe you my life.”

Something flashes in Inara’s eyes, but it passes before you could comment. Instead she smiles brighter.

“Yes…your life.” She mutters softly, rising from her spot. The sudden change in the tone of her voice sends an involuntary shiver up your spine.

“Enjoy yourself here. You may take a while to heal.” She says brightly once more, turning and shutting the door behind her as she left.

You sit there, staring confusedly at the door. Inara had been acting a bit strange, but you couldn’t really blame her. She lived alone in a cabin in the woods, perhaps she was just unaccustomed to the company? Maybe she was afraid of acting out of turn?

Either way, you brushed it off. You finished off your breakfast in silence, but not without the stone woman coming to mind every now and again.

 

 

It had been a full week into your recovery, if it could even be called that anymore. By the third day of your stay at Inara’s cabin, you were well enough to stand and walk without pain, and by the fifth day you were doing small tasks like sweeping and doing the dishes while Inara cared for her gardens or went out.

But no matter how well you walked, or how much you tried to ask, you were never permitted outside. Not even to the garden right next to the house. Inara's first excuse was that the wound could still get infected. Then it was that the wolves still had the scent of your blood. After that she just gave you a quick 'Not today!' before leaving again. It irritated you to no end that she always had an excuse at the tip of her tongue.

By the time the evening of the seventh day came, you felt you were ready to finally return to your village. Your friends must be worried sick about you, they may have even presumed you had died to the wolves. You couldn't stay here knowing that, even with the generosity Inara had shown you. You find her sitting by the fireplace, reading an ancient tomb in a language you couldn’t identify.

“Inara?”

Inara looks up, and smiles. “Yes, dear?”

You stutter for a moment, taken aback by the term of endearment. “I-I think it’s time I return to my village. I have friends who may be wondering if I’m alive or not.”

Inara stares at you. And then, she laughs. “Friends? Why would you need friends when _I’m_ here?”

You…didn’t have an answer to that. Confusion overtakes you at the light tone Inara had used. “What… do you mean?” you ask with hesitance.

Inara just keeps smiling, setting down her book. “I’m here for you now. You don’t need those people, not when I’ll be by your side. They could not protect you from those wolves, and I doubt they will ever be able to. You should stay here, with me, where you are safe.”

“B-but…the village is my home, I-I can’t just-“

Inara stands abruptly, and turns to you slowly. Her shoulder are rigid, and her left fist is clenched hard. You suck in a breath of fear. “This is your home now. I won’t let you get hurt once more, my dear.”

There was an edge to her kind tone, one that practically screamed for you to try and challenge her. Your heart thrashed in your chest, and fearfully, you nodded in compliance.

“Y-yes. Of course, Inara.”

The answer seemed to appease her, and her entire demeanor changed in an instant. Her kind eyes and loving tone returned like it had never left, leaving a sense of fear and uneasiness in you. “Wonderful! Now, wash up. I’m making soup with vegetables from my garden and I think you’ll love it, dear.

You nod, and rush out of the room. As you walked through the halls, it felt as though Inara watched every step you took, her gaze burning a hole in your back. You knew you had to leave, that you had to get home as soon as possible. There was something wrong with your savior, something…unhealthy.

 

 

It takes a few more days for you to gain the confidence to make a run for it. Inara had been keeping a close eye on you, insisting you join her in all her activities, except those that required leaving the cabin. Finally after your 'punishment' was over, she let you wander the house alone without her trailing you.

So in the dead of night, you quietly tiptoed past Inara's room, praying to any god listening that the floor wouldn't creak under your feet. You scurried past the unlit fireplace, relying on the moonlight streaming in from the window to give you the light you needed to reach the door noiselessly. The door beckoned you, and you reached out for the handle hopefully. A loud creak followed it's opening, the sound freezing you in place. You waited a beat. Then another.

After thankfully hearing nothing from Inara's room, you swiftly dashed out. You didn't stop for anything, just desperately sprinting away from your prison and into the woods surrounding it. You had a vague clue as to the direction your village was in, and for the moment it was enough. You just had to get as far away from here as possible.

You only slowed your pace slightly when your lungs burned in protest. Your heart was thumping wildly, but even with the constant pulse echoing in your ears, it was clear that your feet weren't the only ones rustling the leaves on the ground.

A feeling of dread washed over you as you turn your head back, taking sight of the wolves trailing behind you. With a startled cry you stepped up your pace again. Perhaps you hadn't thought this through well enough. Of course the wolves would still be lurking! They certainly weren't happy to have you escape the first time, and they didn't seem keen on letting you escape a second time. 

You ran, but it felt like you were running in circles. No matter how far you thought you got, there was just more and more forest, endlessly. You turned back again, but before you could try and strafe, a wolf pounced, fangs bared and claws out.

The impact never reached you. Instead, the sound of ripping flesh and a loud whine reach your ears, causing you to stop running abruptly. The wolf was tossed aside and bloodied, three long jagged stones protruding from its side. You heart dropped as a familiar presence walked up behind you.

"Get behind me."

Inara pushed you behind her as the three remaining wolves began to circle you both. Inara rose her staff just in time to knock a wolf back as it pounced. You stumbled backwards in shock, falling onto the ground. Another wolf pounced, this time going low to bite at Inara's legs. It whined as soon as it bit down, however, and relinquished its grip.

The fact that the wolf managed to bite her, even if it did nothing against her stone skin, must've sent her into a rage. You swore she lifted off the ground for a moment as she lifted her spear up high.

" _You are not welcome here!_ " With that, she slammed her staff down, three separate spears of rock shooting up from the ground to impale each wolf where they stood. You could only watch the bloody display in fear, unable to move from shock.

Inara turns to you, a splatter of blood staining her cheek.

"You left me."

The words practically pierced you the same way the stones pierced the wolves.

"How...could you just leave me?" Inara said softly. "You didn't listen. I told you you would get hurt. I _told you_ I could protect you, but you left anyways!"

The anger rising in Inara's voice made a lump of fear form in your throat. You couldn't help but shake in fear as the wolf blood covering her suddenly became more apparent in the moonlight.

"Do you know how much it hurt me? Waking and seeing your bed empty? Running out of my room and seeing the door wide open? How could you do that to me?"

Inara was walking closer, and suddenly you couldn't draw a breath. 

"I thought you cared about me. I care about _you_. I love you!"

The confession came so ferociously that you couldn't even respond. The smell of fresh blood in the air and the dying wimpers of the impaled wolves didn't help. You took a shuddering breath, and stood, walking backwards away from Inara's imposing figure. 

The stone woman suddenly took her staff with both of her hands, slamming it into the ground again. Your back hit a stone wall that had risen from the ground, effectively trapping you between a rock and a hard place. Inara took advantage, stepping into your personal space and grabbing your shoulders with her hands. 

"Didn't you hear me? I _love_ you. Ever since I first laid eyes on you, I knew you and I were meant to be. We met for a reason, don't you think? I thought you loved me too...don't you love me as well, dear?"

Inara's grip tightened, making your breath hitch. 

"I...I do." The words felt so wrong coming from your mouth, but you forced them out anyways, fearing what would happen if you said no.

"No, I want to hear you say it. Tell me you love me." Inara whispered, her eyes fixed on your own.

"I…" You swallow hard, remembering the impaled corpses of the wolves lying just a foot away. "I l-love you."

Inara didn't move, her grip tightening ever so slightly. "Then why did you leave me?"

You swallowed hard, but the lump in your throat remained. "I-I wanted to go h-home. My village…"

" _This_ is your home! Out here you could die, and that village? A slaughterhouse! No one can keep you safe like me, can't you see?!" She gestures wildly at the bloody carcasses. You can't bring yourself to look again.

"I-I'm sorry…" Your legs were trembling, as if they'd give way any moment. Inara takes a hand and lays it on your cheek, bringing your head up so your eyes were forced to meet her own.

"Don't ever leave me again." It was more a warning than genuine concern. You couldn't do anything but nod numbly.

"Okay."

Inara lead you back through the winding forest, her hand resting on your back like a thousand pound weight. As you walked, she began to hum a small tune, one that made your hairs stand on end. As the cabin slowly came into view, Inara smiled.

"Finally... home." She said with a sigh.

But no matter how hard you tried to convince yourself, this was no home of yours. It would never be.


End file.
